Wednesday, January 25, 2012

listening to Obama's State of the Union speech. Wow! What an orator! "Each time I look at the flag, I remember that our destiny is stitched together like that 50 stars and 13 stripes. No one built this country on their own. This country is great because we built it together. This nation is great because we worked as a team. This nation is great because we get each other's backs. And if we hold fast to that truth in this moment of trial there is no challenge too great, no mission too hard. As long as we are joined in common purpose as long as we maintain our common resolve our journey moves forward, we have hope and our Union holds strong...

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

By Janelle Sorensen

Sunday, June 21, 2009

It’s summer time and the weeds are growing like, um, weeds. Instead of
reaching for a toxic chemical that could be harmful to your family or
pets, try one of these easy natural ways to kill weeds quick.

1. Use mulch to smother weeds. Covering garden soil
with a mulch blocks weeds. Use two or three inches of shredded bark,
wood chips, straw, cocoa bean hulls, gravel or rocks. The mulches will
also keep moisture in the soil so you'll have to water less frequently.

2. Douse weeds with boiling water. Weeds, like humans, will burn if exposed to boiling water. This method also kills weed seeds.

3. Soap weeds to death. Mix 5 tablespoons of liquid
soap (such as dishwashing liquid) in one quart (4 cups) of water in a
spray bottle. Coat the weeds with the soapy water. Works best on hot
days.

4. Pickle weeds with vinegar. Pour household vinegar
into a spray bottle and evenly coat weeds with it. U.S. Department of
Agriculture scientists recently confirmed this in tests. Vinegar is
really five percent acetic acid in water, and it burns the plant,
especially on sunny days. For extra strength weed killer, look for
pickling vinegar, which is nine percent acetic acid. Don't get the
vinegar on your garden plants, as it can kill them too.

5. Give weeds a stiff drink of alcohol. Mix one to five
tablespoons of alcohol – depending on how stubborn the weeds are – with
one quart (4 cups) of water in a spray bottle. Shower weeds with the
spray. Don't let the alcohol get on garden plants as it may damage their
leaves.

6. Don't let 'em sprout! Use corn meal gluten as a
pre-emergent herbicide and fertilizer. Corn meal gluten prevents weeds
from growing, then breaks down to provide nitrogen to your plants or
lawn. Use it on lawns or established perennial beds, as it won't kill
already growing plants. That does mean, of course, that it won't work on
already existing weeds.

Monday, January 23, 2012

I had the most vivid dream this morning. I think it came after I woke up at 3am to pee.

It felt so real. It first started off as a conversation with a visitor friend from Singapore. He was asking me to take him to the airport or something.

I think my mind was trying to work out the angst of dealing with this visitor who in real life stayed at my place til past 3am for three nights.

The 2nd phase of the dream was for me much more intriguing.

I was on a high top of a building. And I saw this naked woman running towards me. She had auburn hair and very nice breasts. It was Fiona from Maldives 2010 dive. This might have been a way of my mind to process a bizarre scene I saw at Chelsea Beach - there was this sunbather who was spread eagle topless. She wasn't pretty or anything but she and her friend were fairly brazen.

Anyhow my friend Fiona in the dream was hawt. Apparently she had been conned and the thieves had taken her clothes after drugging her. I bought some clothes for her but at the back of my mind I was worried in the dream that she had been raped and may have contracted HIV.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

I love raunculus flowers. Absolutely love them. They come in a rainbow spectrum of colors and shades and because they are relatively cheap- you can plant them en masse.

The effect is stunning to behold.

The problem is that if I plant them straight into the ground now (in January to March) here in my Melbourne garden, most of them will only spring up after Winter - in September, October and flower in November- which in effect means that they will only get one month before they start wilting in our hot Spring sun.

The raunculies need a cold start - 4 to 8 weeks of cold weather - to shake them out of their slumber. That's why they will only spring up after June.

But there is way to trick them.

What you have to do is to place them in the fridge (not freezer) for 4 to 8 weeks before planting them in mid-February. The NZ website advises 4 weeks. The US site recommends 6 - 8 weeks.

If I can recall correctly, we left our batch in the fridge for one month
The plants will be fooled into thinking that winter has come and gone and that Spring is now in season. They will start growing and in 10 - 12 weeks- flower in May, June.

The ranunculus being a Mediterranean spring flowering plants will tolerate our Winters easily - so long as they don't get frost. They tend to die back in our warm Spring when the weather gets hot and will not tolerate temperatures of 26C+.

I'm going to try and jump the gun and start planting them in mid-Feb so that I can have a longer flowering period. I have done this before successfully - but iirc I planted them in March.

Place them in an area which receives full sun and has good drainage - like a slope or a raised garden bed. Like most bulbs, they do not tolerate soggy ground.

They require to be planted about 4cm into the ground about a thumb length size down.

Fertilized them to help them flower. Add all purpose fertilizer when you plant and supplement it with half strength fertilizer every two weeks thereafter. I like to use a spray on liquid seaweed fertilizer. Its easier.

The reward is that while everyone else's garden is gloomy and grey, my garden will be bursting with color. How fantastic would that be???!!!

You should also cut the flowers for display indoors. Apparently they seem to like it and will produce more flowers.

If you don't wish to place them in the fridge you can still plant them in March to May - the problem is that the plants will start flowering in late Spring, early Summer October/Nov. And the plant will start wilting in November when the Australian weather starts warming up (if not earlier).

This is a photo taken back in 2002. The ranunculus flowers make an exceptional mass display.

If you intend to keep the ranunculus bulbs, stop watering them in mid-Summer. For best results, pull them out of the ground and store them in a dry and cool place.

They can be delicate to grow outside: a wet, windy spring will damage flowers badly, while hot, dry conditions will cause foliage to yellow prematurely and restrict flowering.

You might like to read through some of the literature regarding ranunculi but you have to remember that their tips are more applicable for people in America and England.

http://www.easytogrowbulbs.com/g-21-ranunculus.aspx

http://www.aorangi.co.nz/FactSheets/FactSheet6.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_6381824_plant-ranunculus-spring.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ranunculus-flowers-season.html

You can also save the seeds of the ranunculus for planting. I did that once but unfortunately I made the mistake of covering them with a top layer of topsoil. Apparently its best to place them on top of the sawdust mulch and water them in.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Every
Summer when the weather gets a warmer in Victoria we go diving for
abalone. And spear fishing too. Our favorite spot is Back Beach 16 in
Rye. Its near the entrance in the Port Philip Bay area - plenty of rock
pools, mini bays, and kelp forests - and
the water is pretty clean here. This part of the coast faces the Bass
Strait. Swim out and if you don't bump into Tasmania you'll end up in
the South Pole not long after. The water temp is still pretty chilly 13C
- 18C because of this.

We
found this beach - Dimmicks Beach - off Pearse Road, not far from our usual hangout. Its got sandstone reef
flats that extend 50m out to the open sea like a big submerged
tabletop. As the tide is receding you can see the sandstone reef flats
being exposed by the riptide. The conjunction of tidal surf in the
dropoff causes whirlpools and massive swells.

But Rye Beach 16 is still a very nice beach.

The Park Rangers and Marine Park
Inspectors are very enthusiastic about their job. Each time that we go,
morning, noon and night, we've been checked out by the inspectors each
time we come back to the carpark. I suspect that a neighborhood coastal
watchdog service monitors all the Asian men divers who go to the area. The fine
for illegal catches is $10,000 and confiscation of your means of transportation.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Alone in a sea of strangers Trawling through the babel of voices I feel confusion I feel dread A rising tide of madness confronts me Then I descend to the depths And the black beast does not follow I hear my breath In the stillness of the ocean womb I feel my senses align Alone in the depths

Down in the deep depths I find the solace I seek In this silent world So alien to humanity I am at peace.